Seeker: When I feel the emotion of joy, the nature of Consciousness shines through
the body-mind, whatever the cause of the joy. When I feel sad or anxious, which is not the nature of Consciousness, it is known through the body-mind too. Does the body-mind think it generated both?
Reply: Here is a question in reply to your question … A) Who is it that knows there is the emotion of joy in the body-mind? B) Who is it that knows there is the emotion of sadness or anxiety there?”
Seeker: Silence. Silence which does not exclude the manifestation of noise, it being mental or otherwise.
Reply: About silence as such … it is inert and cannot do anything. Unless you mean Silence, the metaphor for Consciousness.
So, who is it that knows the emotions of joy, sadness, anxiety? You, Consciousness … the Illuminator, Witness … Sat Cit. You are the unwitnessed Witness, the unknown Knower of whatever happens in the body-mind persona.
The joy or sadness is in the mind which has the four faculties of ego, intellect, heart and memory. So, to be specific, those emotions are in the heart. You, Consciousness, are the Witness, the silent Knower who is unaffected by the events in the heart. You always and already abide as Your nature of complete Fulfilment, permanent Peace, absolute Happiness. Nothing adds to You. Nothing detracts from You. Like the ocean which is always and already full; rivers flowing into it or not, do not affect the ocean (Bhagavad Gita chapter 2, verse 70). Of course, the problem is we forget our nature of Consciousness because of Self-ignorance.
The word ‘feel’ will be used. It does not mean emotionality nor mere sensations. Rather, all layers of the personality are involved. In the intellect, there is the thought: “I am Consciousness”. In the heart, there is the joy of recognising oneself as Consciousness. There might even be tingling in the body. All put together can be summarised by the word ‘feel’.
To establish oneself as Consciousness, ‘feel’ the separation of I, Consciousness from the body-mind and its events, experiences which are ‘over there’, ie. in the body-mind. But ‘in here’, I, Consciousness, am always and already free. Claim that Consciousness as Yourself. “This is what I am, here and now.” It is Reality. It is the Truth. It is Fact.
To help ‘feel’ the separation, it is helpful to have a photo taken of the back of yourself, a ‘back photo’. Frame it and look at it. Feel the body-mind as ‘over there’; thoughts arising in the mind ‘over there’, emotions moving the heart ‘over there’. But You, Consciousness, are ‘in here’. It is an effective way of establishing the separation between the body-mind persona (which you are not, but have) and Consciousness (which you already and always are, but forget).
Seeker: My original question was about Joy when it is felt by acquiring objects. I understand the joy is not in the objects but a manifestation of the nature of Consciousness. When we feel sad or worried, that sadness or worry is not in the objects which triggered the emotion either. But they are not the nature of Consciousness. Jiva applies joy and sorrow to events and things.
Reply: There is another angle to this discussion … the Gunas. You can think of the Gunas as ‘in-between’ You, Consciousness and the body-mind. The Gunas affect only the body-mind and never affect Consciousness which is beyond the Gunas, always free from them.
The joy we feel with objects is really the mind with sattva. Most people stop here. They are satisfied with that sattvic mind and mistakenly think it is the object which gave them the satisfaction they experience.
Those who recognise Consciousness know that in addition to the sattvic mind with joy, there is also the Joy of the nature of Consciousness manifesting through the sattvic mind. That is because sattva is steady, calm, clear, illumining. The wise identify with the Joy they are as the Source or Cause, not with the joy, the effect in the sattvic mind. When the mind is sad or worried, the mind is dominated by tamas or rajas. There is much agitation, dullness and confusion. With such a mind, the Joy of Consciousness cannot manifest through.
So, as far as the emotions are concerned, it is only a matter of the mind with relevant Guna. But, as you said, that is not the nature of Consciousness, You. An ignorant jiva claims and identifies with either state of mind with the relevant Guna. The jiva thus remains trapped in samsara. You, Consciousness, are always and already free. Recognise and be Consciousness.
Seeker: Yes, it makes sense. Thank you for the clarification, it is very useful. We can use our little bit of contributory free will when we are in sadness or worry to manage the emotion and recognise who/what we really are, Consciousness, Sat Cit Ananda.
Reply: 🙂
